When I started flight simming, VFR and IFR maps were an incomprehensible jumble of numbers, lines and colors. Still, there was something alluring about them, like a mariner on a ship unrolling an old nautical map and plotting his waypoints across it. Indeed, VFR pilots learn to do much of the same thing, using a ruler and a pencil to plot out courses and estimate distances. IFR maps, on the other hand, are almost like looking at computer code.
Modern avionics like Garmin GTN750s or even Foreflight make it easy to know the position of your aircraft at all times, and plinking away an IFR flight plan on the GTN’s touch sensitive screen coupled with an autopilot that controls all of your plane’s axis is nice. In the sim, you can engage the autopilot and let the GPS handle the flying while you sit back and enjoy the scenery. But, it wasn’t always that way. Pilots used to fly IFR using nothing more than charts, VORs, and math. Vintage aircraft may have only a single navigation radio to work with, making frequency juggling an art. IFR flight was a dance of distances, times, and tuning in radio frequencies.
In the soup! Flying the Piper Warrior in IMC (Instrument Meteorological Conditions), where you can’t see a thing. Hopefully you’re flying IFR (using Instrument Flight Rules). If you’re flying VFR (using Visual Flight Rules), statistics say you’ll quickly get disoriented, have a fatal loss of control and be dead within 178 seconds.
I love flying the Piper Warrior II in MSFS. It’s a 1970s-era aircraft with a configurable panel that ranges from modern GPSs to simple nav radios. I’ve been flying modern airliners lately in MSFS, creating complex IFR flight plans, and I thought it would be a fun challenge to fly the Warrior IFR using no GPS with only the two navigation radios and a DME. A pilot, a map, and a radio. You know, old school.
MOSTLY UNNECESSARY DISCLAIMER: This tutorial is for flight simulator use only. I’m not an IFR-rated pilot, or even a pilot (although I do hope to change that). As my video says, I’m just some guy playing a video game.
You can watch the flight here on my YouTube channel.
If you want to try it yourself, here are the instructions:
Flight Plan: KSYR Syracuse Hancock to KTEB Teteboro
KSYR TEBOR V483 FILPS V489 HUO KTEB
STRAD SKUBY NIPIE UNVIL are part of the ILS RWY 19 approach, and are added to the screenshot so you can see the approach
Flight Duration: 184 NM, 1:44 flight time
Cruise Altitude: 7000 feet
Weather: I recommend the Scattered Clouds preset, since it will give a nice mix of being in clouds and sun. I set my departure time 2.5 hours before sunset.
Airports: In my video, I used payware airports, but they are not necessary. The airports were SierraSim’s KSYR Syracuse Hancock and Flightbeam Studio’s KTEB Teterboro.
Aircraft: JustFlight’s Piper Warrior II. You can use any aircraft that has two course deviation indicators and a DME
To do this flight, you’ll need to already understand the basics of how to dial in headings using a CDI, operate your NAV radios, operate a DME, and operate your autopilot.
Left: Course Deviation Indicator 1 (CDI1), Course Deviation Indicator 2 (CDI2)
Center: COM1/NAV1, COM2/NAV2
Right, Center: Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)
Right, Top: DME source switch (NAV1 or NAV2)
A short guide to reading IFR charts:
We’ll be using Enroute Low-altitude IFR charts. These are used for IFR flights up to 18,000 feet MSL. The charts show airways, which are much like interstates for cars. In general, pilots get an on airway at a certain point, fly along the airways to their destination, then exit the airway. Airways exist to give pilots safe routes to fly where they won’t hit terrain and are guaranteed navaid radio reception.
There are two types of low-altitude airways:
Victor Airways - drawn in black, these use VOR radio signals to navigate
T-Routes - drawn in blue, use RNAV(GNSS) to navigate
For our flight, our Piper Warrior II does not have any RNAV equipment, so we cannot use any of the T-Routes. We do have two nav radios coupled to course deviation indicators, however, so we can use Victor Airways.
Victor routes in black and T routes in Blue
Airways provide a few key pieces of information:
The minimum safe altitude for a segment
The minimum altitude that guarantees you can receive VOR signals for the entire segment
The length of each segment in nautical miles
Whether the airway is legally flyable (the airway line is bold) or for reference only (the airway line is thin)
Airway examples, above:
The 4000 over V433-483 means that the Minimum Enroute Altitude (MEA) for this segment is 4000 feet. If you fly at or above 4000 feet, you are guaranteed VOR radio reception. Because this is the only number listed, it is also the Minimum Obstacle Clearance Altitude (MOCA), which is the altitude that guarantees that you will not hit terrain or obstacles such as towers.
The 23 under V433-483 means that the length of this segment is 23 nautical miles.
The 6 to the left of the word SHERB means the length of the segment connecting EATEN and SHERB is 6 nautical miles.
The round-boxed 29 next to the 6 means the cumulative distance from EATEN to Rockdale VOR (lower right of the map) is 29 nautical miles. The airway is broken up into smaller segments defined by waypoints, and each segment has a distance. Round-boxed numbers report the cumulative distance of all the segments up to this point. For example, you can see a 5 under EATEN, which means the EATEN/DINNO segment is 5 nautical miles long, and a round-boxed 34 after that, which means the cumulative distance is 34 (the last rounded boxed number of 29 plus the EATEN/DINNO 5).
The V433-483 airway is bolded black, which means it is legally flyable. The arrow pointing to DINNO with 047 written over it is thin. This line is not flyable. It’s for reference only. It gives you another way to identify DINNO when you are flying on V433-483. In this case, the reference tells you DINNO is on the 047 radial from Georgetown VOR. What would happen if you tried to fly the 047 radial line, anyway? No one knows. That’s the point. There’s no MOCA or MEA written on this reference line. For all you know, there’s a mountain sticking up or no radio reception, which would be bad to discover when you’re deep in clouds. The reason bolded airways exist is that someone has flown them and confirmed that they are safe to fly when you stick by their numbers.
In our simulated flight, there’s a point where I lost VOR reception despite flying by the numbers (because the simulator is not a perfect recreation of reality). I was in a cloud at the time. At that instant, I was flying blind.
Examples of airway altitudes: The 4000 above V29 is the MEA (Minimum Enroute Altitude) and the *3600 is the MOCA (Minimum Obstacle Clearance Altitude). When picking your altitude for this segment, it should be above 4000 if you want to have VOR reception and not crash into any obstacles.
Steps:
The flight follows the V483, V429 and V489 airways, and uses the following VORS and waypoints:
Syracuse SYR 109.9
Rockdale RKA 112.6
TEBOR, located on V433 at 38 DME from RKA
Delancey DNY 112.1
FILPS, located on V249 at 29 DME from DNY
Albany ALB 115.3
WEARD, located on V489 at 67 DME from ALB. Note you will lose the ALB signal in the simulator before reaching 67 DME (even though the IFR plate shows reception). Fortunately you can just use the next VOR, HUO, to locate it (see below).
Hugenot HUO 116.1
WEARD, located on V489 at 21 DME from HUO.
STRAD, located on the 149 radial from HUO at 18 DME
Teterboro Localizer I-TJL 110.15
UNVIL, located on the TJL localizer (195 radial) at 11.5 DME
TUGGZ, located on the TJL localizer (195 radial) at 15.7 DME
To not get overwhelmed and lost, it’s critical to “stay ahead of the plane”. This means you’ll need to always have the radios and CDIs set up for the next steps. You’ll constantly need to be entering new frequencies and toggling the autopilot and DME between the two radios. I found it to be like playing a game of chess, sliding the pieces into position several moves before they were needed.
On the ground at Syracuse:
Tune NAV1 radio to 112.6 (Rockdale RKA)
Tune NAV2 radio to 112.1 (Delancey DNY)
Set CDI 1 to 156 degrees to Rockdale RKA
Set CDI 2 to 130 degrees from Delancey DNY
Check that the autopilot switch is set up to NAV1
Check that the DME switch is set up to NAV1
Set the heading bug to 126, which is the heading we’ll fly to our initial fix, TEBOR.
Note because you will be using your autopilot to fly VOR radials, it’s very important to get your TO and FROM directions correct when setting up your CDI. Although 180 degrees TO a VOR is the same radial as 360 degrees from the VOR, those are different directions for your autopilot. It’s a bit embarrassing to reach a waypoint and have your plane turn around and go back the way it came because you chose a TO instead of a FROM.
Departing Syracuse:
In the video, I departed from runway 28. The simulator typical puts winds out of 270, for presets, so if you are using preset weather this is the runway you’ll likely depart.
Syracuse does have on Standard Instrument Departure (SID), Syracuse 2, but it is just radar vectors to your assigned fix with instructions “Climb and maintain 4000. Expect filed 10 minutes after departure.” This isn’t very different than what you’d get without a SID, which is just radar vectors to your initial fix and an assigned altitude. Microsoft Flight Simulator’s built-in ATC is not very helpful for radar vectors. ATC will say something like “proceed to your next waypoint”. If you’re using live ATC, like Vatsim, the controller will give you radar vectors (“Fly heading 126”). If you don’t have live ATC, you can self-vector by flying heading 126 (using the autopilot in Heading mode) to your initial fix, TEBOR. You’ll know you’ve reached TEBOR when:
The DME (which is measuring distance to RKA VOR) reads 38 NM. TEBOR is 38 NM from RKA on the V433 airway.
CDI 1 centers (CDI 1 is tracking the V433 airway)
The above tactic of using a distance (via DME) and a bearing (using the CDI) to pinpoint your location is the main way we’ll navigate this flight.
Per the SID, climb and maintain 4000 feet.
Once you reach TEBOR, switch the autopilot from Heading to NAV mode and check that the autopilot source is set to NAV1. This will turn the plane right onto the V433 airway and follow the airway to Rockdale VOR.
ARRIVED AT TEBOR: CDI 1 is centered and DME reads 38 NM from RKA VOR (NAV1)
The round-boxed 38 next to TEBOR indicates the waypoint is 38 NM from Rockdale RKA VOR, along the V433-483 radial.
Note the 336 number at the 11 o’clock position coming out of the Rockdale RKA VOR. V433-483 is on the 336 radial FROM Rockdale RKA. If we dialed that into our autopilot (via CDI 1), we’d fly a heading of 336 away from Rockdale. We want to fly TO it, so we subtracted 180 degrees from 336 to get 156, which is what we dialed into CDI 1. This way, our autopilot will fly heading 156 TO Rockdale.
V433 Airway
After TEBOR, start your climb to cruise altitude of 7000 feet (or if you’re using live ATC, whenever they clear you).
As you fly, the DME will decrease from 38 NM (TEBOR) to 0 (RKA VOR). Just before it reaches zero, you will lose the VOR signal as you overfly the VOR, and the DME will briefly go blank before reacquiring the signal. The CDI arrow will flip, going from TO to FROM, because you are now flying away from the VOR. Toggle the autopilot source switch down to NAV2 and also flip the DME source to NAV2. Get used to this. Since we have no standby frequencies in the Piper, we will constantly need to toggle the autopilot between the NAV1 and NAV2 radios. Note you are still on V483. V483 changes direction as you overfly RKA VOR and continues on to DNY VOR. Just like an interstate, where you’d say “get on Interstate 81 and stay on it until you reach Maryland”, you’ll get on an airway and follow it through its twists and turns.
Because we are done with RKA VOR, we can use NAV1 for something else. We’ll “stay ahead of the plane” and enter the next VOR, Albany ALB. Tune NAV1 to 115.3 and set CDI 1 to 222 degrees FROM Albany ALB
We’re going to need Albany ALB VOR (circled, upper right) and Delancey DNY VOR (circled left) to locate the intersection FILPS (circled, bottom). We’ll use the radials from both and the segment distances to biangulate our position.
V249 Airway
We are currently flying the V433 airway to DNY VOR, and the DME is counting down the remaining distance. When it reaches zero, set CDI 2 to the 130 radial from DNY. Since the autopilot is using CDI 2, this will turn the plane onto the V249 radial.
FILPS intersection is 29 DME from DNY on V249. When you reach 29 DME, toggle the autopilot and DME source to NAV1. NAV1 is currently set to track the Albany ALB VOR, so the plane will turn onto the Albany V489 airway.
Because we’re done with DNY, this frees up NAV2. We can set it up for our next VOR. Tune NAV2 to 116.1 Hugenot HUO VOR. Set CDI2 to 199 degrees to HUO.
Flying from FILPS (circled, top) to WEARD (circled center) to Hugenot HUO VOR (circled, bottom). WEARD is defined by the intersection of Hugenot HUO and Albany ALB radials.
V489 Airway
The DME is now tracking distance from Albany ALB VOR. At 67 DME, you have reached WEARD intersection on V489. Maintain your cruise altitude of 7000 until WEARD. We chose 7000 because the minimum enroute altitude (MEA) for this segment is 7000 feet.
On IFR plates, if you fly above the MEA you are guaranteed reception. In real life, I should have been able to receive the Albany VOR signal at WEARD. In the simulator, I lost it before reaching 67 DME. To get around this:
I set the heading bug to the Albany radial I was flying (heading 222) and put the autopilot in heading mode.
I flipped the DME source to NAV2, which is HUO. WEARD is located 21 DME from HUO, so I just needed to watch the DME until it ticked down to 21.
At WEARD, flip the autopilot source switch to NAV2 (which is HUO VOR). The plane will turn onto the 199 radial to HUO. Note this is still the V489 airway (which changed direction at WEARD).
Start your descent, descending from 7000 to 5000 as the DME ticks down to zero. The MEA for this segment is 4000. At zero DME, you are directly over the HUO VOR and ready for vectors to your Initial Approach Fix (IAF) of STRAD.
Note the 4000 over the V489 airway, lower left. This allows us to safely descend from our cruise altitude of 7000 to 5000.
Just like reaching your exit on an interstate, we’ve hit our exit for the airway, at Hugenot HUO VOR. You can see our flight plan now longer follows the bolded black airway line after HUO. At this point, to get safely from HUO to Teteboro, ATC would be giving us step-by-step instructions via radar vectors. Since we are flying a specific approach (ILS runway 19), those vectors will take us to the waypoints on the approach plate.
Vectors to IAF
ILS Runway 19 approach plate. After exiting our airway in the previous step, we need to get to the first waypoint in the approach, called the Initial Approach Fix (IAF). In this case, it’s STRAD waypoint, in the upper left. Note there are no VOR distances or references to locate STRAD. The only way to find it is by ATC steering you there (via radar vectors) or through GPS navigation. That’s why the very top of the plate states “RNAV-1 GPS or RADAR required for procedure entry.”
Since we have neither ATC nor GPS for this flight, we’re going to fudge it a little. In real life, you can’t fudge it.
At this point, ATC would give you radar vectors to the ILS RWY 19 Initial Approach Fix (IAF), STRAD. Since we are not talking to live ATC in this video, we will self-vector by doing the following:
Set OBS2 to the 149 radial from HUO. Fly this radial until reaching 18 DME. This will be STRAD. Descend from 5000 to 3000 before arriving at STRAD.
Before reaching STRAD, tune NAV1 to Teterboro’s RWY 19 ILS frequency, 110.15.
Set the heading bug to 131. We will need this for the next waypoint after STRAD.
Once you reach STRAD, set the autopilot to heading mode. Fly heading 131 for 4.9 NM (the DME is still counting distance from HUO, so 22.9 HUO DME is approximately 4.9 files from STRAD). This will bring you to SKUBY. Descend to 2800 before reaching SKUBY.
From SKUBY, continue flying heading 131 for another 4.9 NM (now 26.9 HUO DME) to NIPIE, descending to 2600.
Toggle the DME source to NAV1, which is the RWY 19 ILS.
From NIPIE, fly heading 150 for 5.8 NM to UNVIL, descending to 2100. You will know you have reached UNVIL when CDI1 is centered and you are at 11.5 DME.
Upon reaching UNVIL, flip the autopilot source to NAV1 and put it in Approach (APPR) mode.
Flying the ILS
The Piper Warrior’s autopilot can control roll but not pitch. You will need to manage the plane’s altitude yourself using speed and trim. CDI 1 will display whether you are left or right of the localizer and above or below the glide scope. The goal is to keep the crosshairs centered during the descent
The altitudes you need to hit to intercept the glide scope:
2100 feet at UNVIL, which is 11.5 DME from the ILS
1500 feet at TUGGZ, which is 5.7 DME from the ILS. At TUGGZ, you should intercept the glide scope.
At the bottom of the IFR plate for RWY 19 ILS are the minimums, by CATEGORY. We are CATEGORY A, which is aircraft flying 0-90 knots on final. The minimums depend on whether we are flying an ILS (vertical and lateral navigation) or just the localizer (lateral navigation only). We are flying the ILS, so we’re using the S-ILS 19 CATEGORY A numbers, which are 219-3/4. Since this is a precision approach (using an ILS), these numbers are the Decision Height (in this case 219 feet) and the Runway Visual Range (in this case 3/4 of a mile). If we reach an altitude of 219 feet and we do not have the runway in sight, we must go missed and follow the Missed Approach procedure. The Runway Visual Range of 3/4 mile just tells us that at 3/4 of a mile we should be able to clearly see the runway markings and lights in normal visibility. Note if we were flying a non-precision approach (localizer only, or circling approach), instead of Decision Height we would have Minimum Descent Altitude, which is the lowest point you can descend without having the runway in sight. In that case, you’d keep flying level until you reached the Missed Approach Point, which is a specific distance from the field where you must go missed if you can’t see the runway. Anyway, for our weather present of scattered clouds, everything will be clear at 219 feet, so we won’t have to worry about this.
The Warrior is not an Airbus with auto land capability. You will need to turn off the autopilot before reaching 200 feet above ground and hand fly the landing. Remember, the autopilot is always trying to kill you, so don’t put it in charge anywhere near the ground.
Phew! That was a ton of information, but if you followed it you should have a pretty good grasp on how to read low-altitude IFR charts and manage an IFR flight with radios only. Hope you enjoyed it!
When I’m not flying the virtual skies, I’m the sci-fi author of the Hayden’s World series. If you love exploration and adventure, be sure to check it out.